What's behind the anti-Obama outcry?

Comments like that infuriate Orange County Republican Chairman Scott Baugh.

"To suggest that disagreement with this president over his policies is racially motivated is ridiculous,'' says Baugh. "It says we're not allowed to disagree because the man happens to be black. That's nuts. That's crazy. That is not a prison that conservatives are going to allow themselves to be placed in.''

Wylie Aitken, chairman of the Democratic Foundation of Orange County also downplayed race. "I don't think it's a racial issue at all,'' he said. "I think it's truly an issue of individuals who think they have the right to control all parts of our lives. I don't think it matters to them at all the color of Obama."

A new media game

Whether or not race is playing a role, there is one undeniable difference from previous administrations. And that's the way people are getting their information and who they are getting it from.

When people protested the Vietnam War there were newspapers, the Big Three television networks and some radio stations to spread the word.

Today it's difficult to name all the ways people get information. There are still newspapers and network news, but cable news, internet blogs and TV and radio shows that blend news with commentary, political activism and satire deliver information that is often more entertainment than fact. Like a flawed game of telephone, the messages aren't always clear or accurate.

'The problem today is that there is a lot less reporting and a lot more opining,'' says Pitney. "And most of the commentary consists of chewing from the mainstream media.''

Norm Ornstein, a longtime Congress watcher and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the scramble for people's attention and for ratings and readers is driving messages on-air and the Internet that never would have seen the light of day before.

Whatever the temperature of the criticisms of Obama and of Congress, the activists and experts I talked to said that behind the tone are genuine differences in policy. Some same it's more acute because of the economic condition people find themselves in, particularly the millions of unemployed. Others say people are waking up to just what direction Obama wants to take the country.

Despite the fact that Obama made it clear he wanted to radically change the direction the nation was going, that he planned a sweeping health reform, to be followed by climate change and immigration overhauls, there's a sense that somehow these proposals were unexpected.

"What's happening now is a recognition of what the real meaning of the last election was and people are surprised and dismayed and thus they are activated,'' suggested Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, a former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan.

GOP uses radical strategy

Being the party out of power, particularly with the large Democratic margins in the House and Senate, Republicans and their allies need to find a way to derail the majority's efforts.

In this regard, says Pitney, they have taken a page from '60s radical Saul Alinsky, the father of community organizing and radical dissent. Here's a phrase from Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals": "Next the organizer must begin the task of agitating: rubbing resentments, fanning hostilities, and searching out controversy. This is necessary to get people to participate."

WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 12: Protesters talk with each other on Capitol Hill during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES
Protesters march and hold signs during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES
WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 12: Protesters gather and hold signs during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES
Protesters pass the National Archives during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES
Protesters gather on Capitol Hill during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to march to the Capitol Hill to protest high spending, higher taxes and the growth of the federal government. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, GETTY IMAGES

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